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"But sir--"

"No buts, Cleavers It’s her choice She’ll stand out nounfashionably tawny is the least of her troubles"

When she turned back to glare at ly

"Fine," she snapped "No powder But you’re wearing rouge"

"Fine," I said "So long as it’s not made of battery acid and Drano"

"Don’t knohat those are" She sniffed "But you’re wearing it, just the same"

This time, she had a delicate little brush and a porcelain pot of bright red paste I i, circular stains like a china doll But apparently, rouge was their word for lipstick, because she carefully painted hter than blood No one but movie stars could pull off that color red in ainst the white powder and the burgundy dress and decided that I was doo card Like the Queen of Hearts

"All done," she said "And thank goodness You’re tougher to prettify than a spoiled child"

"I’ ly inconsequential people who actually hold great power I didn’t want to burn a bridge with her Plus, she reruff just to test yourto know

"I don’t know the ways here Thanks for helping asp

"Things must be very different where you coe to her voice, and that’s when I finally realized that she was the sa as Criminy, a blood drinker I don’t knohy I hadn’t made the connection sooner, like, say, when I saw the black claws Did Criloves? That would be oneinvolved with him, no matter that I nearly melted every time he smiled at me

Mrs Cleavers selected a bottle fro spritz of perfume over my head I could feel the tiny cold drops settle on my face The scent of red roses enveloped me, and I sneezed

She inhaled and said, "That’s better But don’t try to huggle a Bludman, eh? And here’s your shawl"

She offered , but I said, "No, thank you"

"Master ht let you refuse paint, but all ladies wear a shawl," she said, scandalized

"I don’t," I said

As I turned to the door in a huff, some part of my hairdo fell, anddown At the same ti ringlet, and sorazed across my bare hand, skin to skin

And I felt a jolt, as if I had been struck by lightning

6

We both reacted as if we’d been electrocuted, ju heavily When our skin had touched, an iotten oldenaunder the darkness of night and pouring so into the powder jar hich Mrs Cleavers had tried to whiten one Not a second had passed, barely a breath

"Did you see that?" I said

"I felt it," she said "You’re lucky I’ve got two hundred years of self-control, birdie"

"No, not that," I said "Did you see the picture, the thing with the monkey?"

"What monkey?" she said, her eyes suspicious slits

"I felt this jolt, and I saw this i in your face powder," I said "Isn’t that why you gasped, too?"

"This monkey," she said, "what did it look like?"

"It was a tiny reen top hat"

"Elvis" She spat "I should have known"

She picked up the jar of powder and sniffed it, then held it up to the laht

"No scent, no color," she ain with her sharp, dark eyes "You say you saw it? Just now? In a dreas before?"